News on Post-2015 Agenda

Subjective wellbeing, empathy, and intrinsic values can lead to more sustainable behavior.

Promoting mindfulness could be construed as a policy that contributes both to sustainability and to greater wellbeing.

Based on a review of the literature on these topics, we suggest that promoting mindfulness practice in schools, workplaces and elsewhere could be construed as a
policy that pays a “double dividend” in that it could contribute both to more sustainable ways of life and to greater wellbeing.

The development of indicators remains a critical entry point for the full and meaningful participation of indigenous peoples in the Post-2015 Development Agenda and
the same will apply for Wellbeing! The IPMG and The Mindfulness Foundation welcomes the Secretary General’s action-oriented approach that suggests ”Member States may decide to task the United Nations
System, in consultation with other relevant experts and through a multi-stakeholder dialogue, to develop a draft set of indicators” (para 139). The IPMG is concerned, however, with the time-frame for
the development these indicators, the lack of clarity over what UN agencies and experts will be involved, and how indigenous peoples can input directly into indicator development. The IPMG has
developed and recommends specific indicators, for example, that can significantly contribute to this process.

The legislation was introduced to Parliament by Michael Moore MP and was supported by the Government. In 2013 the UK delivered on its pledge to spend 0.7% of gross
national income (GNI) as official development assistance (ODA), becoming the first G7 country to meet this longstanding commitment. This Act of Parliament means this commitment is now enshrined in
law.

This past December, the UN General Assembly adopted a decision outlining the modalities for negotiations the post-2015 development agenda. A further six
sessions are scheduled for the next six months in order to hammer out an “outcome document” on the new agenda, which will then be adopted by UN members at a high-level summit in September.

According to the resolution, the outcome document prepared over the coming months may include four key components: a political declaration; a set of SDGs and targets; means of implementation and
partnerships; and follow-up and review systems. The next four sessions will in turn look at each of these components. Two meetings in June and July are then scheduled for intergovernmental
negotiations on the draft outcome document for September.

The much-anticipated Synthesis Report of the UN Secretary-General on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
was issued on Thursday. Entitled "The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet," the report articulates a "call to action to transform our world
beyond 2015." A noble exhortation to be sure, one that, it is safe to say, absolutely no one can argue with. But unfortunately the report falls short of making a valuable contribution to the wider
discussion around the new development agenda, particularly when it comes to navigating the difficult road ahead.

What the Synthesis Report adds is yet another vector, consisting of yet another numbered list, against which the new agenda should seek to operate. Now, in addition
to 17 goals, and 169 targets, we also have "six essential elements," which will need to be assimilated and accounted for in the final agenda. Instead of making the work of the negotiators easier
going into January, when the process of finalizing the new development agenda picks up in earnest, the Synthesis Report has made their work harder, which makes it all the less likely that the
international community will ultimately deliver to the world an agenda that is practical, relevant, workable, and effective, something that the world sorely needs.